The pianist Jacques Rouvier began his musical training at the age of four. At 14 he completed his studies at the “Conservatoire de Marseille” with top marks and a 1st prize in the piano category, and continued his education at the “Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique de Paris” (CNSM). His teachers include Aline van Barentzen, Jean Hubeau, Jean Fassina, Vlado Perlemuter and Pierre Sancan. He also received musical impulses from renowned personalities such as Gyorgy Sebok, Paul Badura-Skoda and Jose Iturbi. The emerging young soloist went on to win international competitions including 1st prize of the Viotti piano competition in Vercelli, 2nd prize in the Maria Canals Piano Competition (in a year when the 1st prize was not awarded), and the special prize of the “Fondation de la Vocation”. He was a finalist of the ARD competition in Munich (chamber music category) and winner of the 3rd Grand Prix des Marguerite Long piano competition in Paris. His complete recordings of Maurice Ravel’s works and the complete piano works of Claude Debussy, as well as the Ravel and Debussy sonatas for piano and violin (with Jean Jacques Kantorow) were awarded the “Grand Prix du Disque”. Jacques Rouvier has given concerts as a soloist and teacher at the following festivals: Kuhmo, Prades, Aix-en-Provence, Courchevel, Nice, St. Jean de Luz, Orford, Hamamatsu, Oberlin, Tokyo, Vancouver, Mendelssohn Academy Leipzig, Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid, La Roque d”Anthéron. He began his teaching activity at the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique de Paris in 1977, where he was appointed Professor in 1982. He also teaches at the CNR Marseille and has been a visiting professor at the Berlin University of the Arts since 2006. Among his most prominent alumni are Arcadi Volodos, Helène Grimaud, David Fray, David Kadouch, Philippe Giusiano, Frank Braley, Yukio Yokoyama, Claire-Marie Le Guay, Mami Hagiwara. In addition to teaching and jury work at international competitions such as the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Marguerite Long Paris, Leeds Piano Competition, Igancy Jan Paderewsky Competition, Rubinstein Competition, Chopin Competition Warsaw, Santander, Dublin, Genève, Montreal, Hamamatsu, Sendai, Jacques Rouvier performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe and Asia.
Claudio Martinez Mehner began his music studies at an early age at the “Real Conservatorio Superior de Madrid” in Madrid with Amparo Fuster, Pedro Lerma and Joaquín Soriano. In addition to his piano studies, he participated in the Spanish National Youth Orchestra as a violist and in the Chamber Orchestra of the German School as a violinist, violist and harpsichord player. He finished his bachelor degree in 1989 He continued his studies at the “Tchaikovsky-Conservatory” in Moscow and the “Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía” in Madrid with Prof. Dmitri Bashkirov, afterwards at the the “Hochschule für Musik” in Freiburg, Germany (Master of Performance, finished 1994), the “Fondazione per il Pianoforte” in Como, Italy; and the “Peabody Conservatory” in Baltimore, US (Artist degree studies) with Vitalij Margulis and Leon Fleisher. In addition, he participated in masterclasses given by Murray Perahia, Fou Ts’ong, Alexis Weissenberg, Karl-Ulrich Schnabel, Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau, and Mstislav Rostropovich, among many others. Lately he has received invaluable advice by Prof. Ferenc Rados in Budapest, Hungary. At the ages of 13 and 15 Claudio Martínez Mehner won first prize with special mention in the German competition “Bundeswettbewerb Jugend musiziert”. He was a finalist in the International Piano Competition “Paloma O’Shea” in Santander (1990), Spain, and won first prizes in the international competitions “Pilar Bayona” in Zaragoza, Spain (1992), “Fondation Chimay” in Belgium (1993), and “Dino Ciani” in Milano, Italy (1993). As a soloist he performed in most major cities in Europe, United States, Russia, Central America, Japan and Korea, with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic, Filarmónica of the Teatro Alla Scala, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic, Italian Swiss Radio Orchestra, Norddeutsche Rundfunk, Filarmonia Hungarica and most of the major Spanish orchestras. Claudio Martínez-Mehner is an avid chamber music player and has performed with many ensembles in Europe and Asia. Presently he is piano professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel, Switzerland and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne, Germany. He teaches masterclasses in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
Acclaimed for the refinement and expressive depth of his interpretations, pianist Andrei Gologan captivates international audiences with his distinctive sound palette, and has earned the support of renowned pianists such as Sir András Schiff, Daniel Barenboim, and Richard Goode. He has been described by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as “a poet of piano playing” and praised by the General-Anzeiger Bonn for his “refined tone culture” and “technical brilliance.” A sought-after soloist, Gologan performs with orchestras such as Camerata Salzburg, KALA Chamber Orchestra, the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra, the George Enescu Philharmonic, the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Sándor Végh Chamber Orchestra. He is a regular guest at major festivals all over the world. Additional performances have brought him to the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin (as part of Daniel Barenboim’s complete Beethoven Sonatas project), the Herkulessaal in Munich, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Berlin Philharmonie. Sir András Schiff invited Gologan to take part in his Building Bridges scheme — a concert series aimed at promoting exceptional pianists. It included debut appearances at major European venues such as Konzerthaus Berlin, deSingel Arts Centre Antwerp, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, and the Herbstgold Festival at Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt. A passionate chamber musician, Gologan co-founded the Buzz Chamber Music Festival in Obertrum am See with his piano-duo partner Roxana Cîrciu. The festival returns for its fourth edition in April 2027, continuing its mission to reimagine classical chamber music in non-traditional contexts. The Buzz Chamber Music Festival is an extension of ONLINE: concerts & talks, a digital concert series Andrei initiated in collaboration with Austrian broadcaster FS1 during the pandemic. More than 20 chamber music concerts featuring international artists were streamed as part of the project. Born in Romania into a non-musical family, Gologan received his first piano lesson at the age of five and won his first competition only six months later. He began his musical training in Romania with pianist and composer Iulian Arcadi Trofin, before continuing his studies at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg with Pavel Gililov and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Claudio Martinez-Mehner. He is prizewinner of several international piano competitions and a scholarship recipient of the Verbier Festival Academy, Oxford Piano Festival, IMS Prussia Cove, and the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein. His artistic thinking has been deeply shaped by mentors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir András Schiff, Ferenc Rados, Richard Goode, Gidon Kremer, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Rita Wagner, and Thomas Adès. Andrei Gologan has been appointed as a faculty member for piano chamber music at the University of Music Freiburg. His debut studio recording, featuring works by Johannes Brahms and co-produced with Deutschlandfunk Kultur and C. Bechstein, was released by Evidence Classics in autumn 2025.
Ilya Maximov is the winner of the G.B. Viotti International Piano Competition in Italy. He has a wide range of repertoire starting from early classics to modern composers, while Russian piano music always had a special place in his concert career. He has performed at the world’s most esteemed concert halls and festivals in Europe, Asia, and America including Golden Hall of Musikverein in Vienna, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Palau de la Música in Valencia, Salle Cortot in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, Chamber Hall of Berlin Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Suginami Kokaido in Tokyo, Esplanade Hall in Singapore, Lütfi Kirdar in Istanbul, Theatre A. Roldán in Havana and La Sapienza in Rome, the Bratislava Philharmonie, and the NOSPR in Katowice. In December of 2017, Ilya Maximov released his first solo album with works by S. Taneev, S. Rachmaninoff, and S. Prokofiev, which was positively received by critics. In 2014, he also recorded a CD with the Safonov Philharmonic Orchestra and Ayyub Guliyev, performing S. Rachmaninoff’s 1st Piano Concerto. He regularly performs as a soloist with various orchestras and has collaborated with orchestras such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Wuhan Symphonic Orchestra, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, Ural State Philharmonic Orchestra, Havana National Symphonic Orchestra, and, among others. He has shared the stage with such conductors as Carlo Tenan, Steven Fox, Ayyub Guliyev, Justus Franz, James P Liu, Misha Katz, Darrell Ang, Dmitry Yablonsky and James Ross. Ilya Maximov is a top prizewinner at numerous international competitions, including the Maria Canals International Piano Competition (Spain), Hilton Head International Piano Competition (USA), Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition (Spain), and at the Scottish International Piano Competition. In 2011 he received the prestigious Audience Prize at Musical Olympus festival in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Alongside his solo career, Ilya Maximov teaches at Universitat Mozarteum Salzburg. He is also a founder of the BISMA Bacewicz International Summer Music Academy in Poland which serves as an excellent platform for educational, musical and cultural exchange for young musicians from all over the world.
Rafael Lipstein is a German/Argentinian pianist who is praised by the critics for his poetry and unique interpretations. Started playing the piano at age of 11 under the guidance of his father. At the age of 14 continued his studies with Pavel Gililov at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and Universitat Mozarteum in Salzburg. Furthermore he worked with artists such as Martha Argerich, Maria Joao Pires, Gabriela Montero, Ivry Gitlis, Ferenc Rados and many others. After being forced to interrupt his career at the age of 23 due to a neurological injury, he started developing a big interest in the body and it’s biomechanical but also emotional role in music making.
Currently Rafael Lipstein is studying Music Physiology at the ZHdK Zurich. He works with different approaches ia. Taubman approach under close guidance of specialist Robert Durso and the Pianosomatics with Alan Fraser. In his sessions any topic ranging from technical difficulties, discomfort, pain, stage fright or limitations in expression can be addressed.
